Temptation

Temptation, in general, is any thing, state, way, or condition, that, upon any account whatever, has a force of efficacy to seduce, to draw the mind and heart of a man from its obedience, which God requires of him, into any sin, in any degree of it whatever. In particular, that is a temptation to any man which causes or occasions him to sin, or in any thing to go off from his duty, either by bringing evil into his heart, or drawing out that evil that is in his heart, or any other way diverting him from communion with God, and that constant, equal, universal obedience, in matter and manner, that is required of him.

What is it then to “enter into temptation”?

1. It is not merely to be tempted. It is impossible that we should be so freed from temptation as not to be at all tempted. While Satan continues in his power and malice, and while the world and lust are in being, we shall be tempted. “Christ,” said one, “was made like unto us, that He might be tempted; and we are tempted that we may be made like unto Christ.” Temptation in general is comprehensive of our whole warfare; as our Savior calls the time of His ministry the time of His “temptations” (Luke 22:28).

We have no promise that we shall not be tempted at all; nor are we to pray for an absolute freedom from temptations, because we have no such promise of being heard in this. The direction we have for our prayers is “Lead us not into temptation” (Matthew 6:13); it is “entering into temptation” that we are to pray against. We may be tempted, yet not enter into temptation.

2. Thus, something more is intended by this expression than the ordinary work of Satan and our own lusts, which will be sure to tempt us every day. There is something signal in this entering into temptation that is not the saints' every day's work. It is something that befalls them peculiarly in reference to seduction unto sin, on one account or other, by the way of allurement or affrightment.

3. It is not to be conquered by a temptation, to fall down under it, to commit the sin or evil that we are tempted to, or to omit the duties that are opposed. A man may “enter into temptation,” and yet not fall under temptation. God can make a way for a man to escape; when he is in the temptation, He can break the snare, tread down Satan, and make the soul more than a conqueror, though it have entered into temptation. Christ entered into it, but was not in the least foiled by it.

4. But it is, as the apostle expresses it, to “fall into temptation” (1 Timothy 6:9), as a man falls into a pit or deep place where are gins or snares, with which he is entangled. The man is not presently killed and destroyed, but he is entangled and detained; he knows not how to get free or be at liberty. So it is expressed again to the same purpose, “No temptation hath taken you”; that is, to be taken by a temptation and to be tangled with it, held in its cords, not finding at present a way to escape. For this Peter said, “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations” (2 Peter 2:9). They are entangled with them; God knows how to deliver them out of them.

When we suffer a temptation to enter into us, then we “enter into temptation.” While it knocks at the door, we are at liberty; but when any temptation comes in and parleys with the heart, reasons with the mind, entices and allures the affections, be it a long or a short time, do it thus insensibly or imperceptibly, or do the soul take notice of it, we “enter into temptation.”

So, then, unto our entering into temptation is required:

(a) That by some advantage, or on some occasion, Satan be more earnest than ordinary in his solicitations to sin, by affrightments or allurements, by persecutions or seductions, by himself or others; or that some lust or corruption, by his instigation and advantages of outward objects, provoking, as in prosperity, or terrifying, as in trouble, do stir us up more than ordinary. There is a special acting of the author and principles of temptation required for this.

(b) That the heart be so far entangled with it as to be put to dispute and argue in its own defense, and yet not be wholly able to eject or cast out the poison and leaven that has been injected. It is surprised, if it be ever so little off its watch, into an entanglement not easy to be avoided; so that the soul may cry, and pray, and cry again, and yet not be delivered; as Paul “besought the Lord” thrice for the departure of his temptation, and prevailed not. The entanglement continues. And this usually falls out in one of these two seasons:

(1) When Satan, by the permission of God, for ends best known to Himself, has got some peculiar advantage against the soul; as in the case of Peter. He sought to winnow him, and prevailed.

(2) When a man's lusts and corruptions meet with peculiarly provoking objects and occasions, through the condition of life that a man is in, with the circumstances of it; as it was with David.

In this state of things, a man is entered into temptation; and this is called the “hour of temptation” (Revelation 3:10), the season where it grows to a head. When the hour of temptation is come upon us, we are entered into it. Every great and pressing temptation has its hour, a season in which it grows to a head, and in which it is most vigorous, active, operative, and prevalent. It may be long in rising, it may be long urging, more or less; but it has a season in which, from the conjunction of other occurrences, such as those mentioned, outward or inward, it has a dangerous hour. Then, for the most part, men enter into it.

Hence that very temptation, which at one time has little or no power on a man—he can despise it, scorn the motions of it, easily resist it—at another time bears him away quite before it. It has, from other circumstances and occurrences, received new strength and efficacy, or the man is enervated and weakened; the hour is come, he is entered into it, and it prevails. David probably had temptations before, in his younger days, to adultery or murder, as he had in the case of Nabal; but the hour of temptation was not come; it had not got its advantages about it, and so he escaped until afterward.

Let men look for it that are exposed unto temptations, as who is not? They will have a season in which their solicitations will be more urgent, their reasonings more plausible, pretences more glorious, hopes of recovery more appearing, opportunities more broad and open, the doors of evil made more beautiful than ever they have been. Blessed is he who is prepared for such a season, without which there is no escaping. This, as I said, is the first thing to entering into temptation; if we stay here, we are safe.

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